10/20/2010 @ 6:00PM

The Big Interview

Fewer than 8% of applicants get invited to Y Combinator headquarters for a nerve-fraying interview. Those who make it to Mountain View stand a 50% chance of being selected for YC’s program and a crack at Silicon Valley glory. Each interview lasts only 10 minutes. “It’s incredibly fast,” says Graham. “We try to make things as casual as we possibly can. People who do best are relaxed.”

The partners expect to see some form of product demonstration, no matter how primitive. Graham looks for what he calls “tissue turgor.” He’s not interested in how elastic somebody’s skin is but rather an ability to defend their idea and show they’ve thought about it from every angle. “If we can stump them, that’s bad,” says Graham. “We’ve only been thinking about this idea for ten minutes; they’ve been thinking about it for months.”

Invitees are told to dress as casually as possible. Previous class members mingle with candidates before their interviews in an effort to loosen everybody up and set a friendly tone. No matter–sweat flows. “Some of them reach their hand out to the mouse and it’s shaking,” says Graham. “We feel terrible about that.”

Not too terrible. The sessions can be intense, with all five YC partners bearing down on presenters. They often hover around the computer screen, all squinting at the demo, all asking questions at once. Then, all of the sudden, it’s over. “It was a blur,” confirms Rudy Adler, cofounder of 1000Memories.

The next round of interviews is scheduled for Nov. 18-21, over a long weekend. Graham calls candidates with their fates late in the evening of their interview day. On Monday morning the victors huddle in YC’s building for a pep talk from Graham. He recommends they relocate to the Bay Area immediately, even though the program may not begin for six weeks.